A Story Of Innocence
by Charlie Fossil
Summary: Doctor Who AU. John Smith is a teacher/writer who falls for Rose Tyler, a filing clerk, after meeting her at a work party. They begin their friendship rather innocently but they both know from the beginning there's something more.
1. The Work Do

John Noble sat at his desk in front of his class of twenty-five Year Sixes on an ordinary Tuesday morning. He had set them an end of term paper and required complete silence, which was not only agonising for a class of 10-year-olds, but was also extremely dull for him. His eyes lingered over the clock as he listened to the seconds tick by, and with each one passing, it brought him closer to the sanctuary of his own home. He was completely average as far as he was concerned - no talents, no special skills, no quirks about him. He did happen to write in his free time, even if he didn't think that he was any good. _What kind of writer can't even come up with ideas for a novel? _He thought to himself as he stared at a blank sheet of paper he pulled out from his desk drawers. Writing was a passion of his and it angered him that he couldn't think of any original ideas. Five minutes had passed and he was still staring at a blank sheet of paper and tapping his pencil on his desk. A small dark haired boy arrogantly glared at his teacher and coughed.

"Sorry," John mumbled, glancing at his subconscious tapping and willed himself to stop.

It was then that he felt like his life had been temporarily saved. A small woman dressed in a smart grey dress popped her head around the door and shot a smile at John.

"Mr Noble, there's a call for you waiting at reception," she told him quietly, careful not to ruin the atmosphere.

"Brilliant, can you get someone to cover my class for a second?" He asked as he hurriedly made his way to the reception.

"What are you doing tonight?" A shrill voice rang down the phone.

"What? Donna is this what you rung me for? I've got a class!" John angrily asked her back.

"I'm sure you weren't doing anything important," she said. He frowned at the floor but new she was right. "So, are you free tonight or not?"

"Why, what's happening tonight?" He asked, confused.

"I've got a Christmas work do and I can't turn up alone if I don't want to embarrass myself. Now can you come or not?"

"Can't you just ask, I don't know, a guy?" He asked even more confused than before.

"No, stupid!" Donna replied rather angrily. "Everyone's bringing someone except me. It's either I turn up with my brother or I turn up alone and I don't see that happening!"

He sighed. "I'll pick you up at seven."

He put down the phone and returned to his classroom, giving his thanks to the man who covered his class.

* * *

"You know, Donna, I really don't think parties are my sort of thing," John said to his sister as he drove them both the pub where the party was being held.

"'Course they are! There are loads of great people; you just need to mingle a bit. I can introduce you to someone if you want. What about Beth, you'd love her … single and desperate …" Donna rambled but John interrupted her.

"I'm not looking to meet anyone, Donna. I just don't think I belong at parties, that's all."

"Alright, but I think you could be wrong," she said as they arrived at the pub.

They walked in and Donna immediately headed towards her friends who were sat down in a circular booth, talking about something that seemed incredibly important. John surveyed the room and began to walk over towards Donna and her friends when he bumped into a young woman.

"I'm so sorry!" He apologised before looking up at her.

His eyes widened at the sight of her. She had beautiful, wavy blonde hair, gorgeous brown eyes and breathtaking cherry-red lips. She wore a little black dress that complemented her curves and he couldn't help but notice how well she wore it. He wiped his now sweaty hand on his suit and gave her a weak smile.

"John Noble," he offered his hand to shake.

"Rose Tyler," she smiled as she took his hand.

"So do you work at HC Clements too?" He asked her before being rudely interrupted.

"Oh, Rose, it's okay, you don't have to entertain my brother. I'm sure he can go and chat up some other girl," Donna smiled apologetically at her.

"Actually, I bumped into her and was just apologising," John explained.

"Yeah I was about to tell him what I do," Rose said, feeling slightly embarrassed by the situation.

"Really! John why don't you tell her what _you _do?" Donna smirked to herself.

"I'm a primary school teacher," he admitted.

"Yeah, and he also writes!" Donna pointed out.

"Wow! A writer? Is there anything that I might have heard of?" Rose nodded, clearly impressed by him.

"No. He's not that good," Donna said bluntly.

"Thanks, Donna," John sarcastically smiled at her and walked away.

* * *

"They can't be _that _bad!" Rose laughed with John as he told her about some of the stories he had written.

"They are awful, believe me," he told her as he took another sip of his wine.

"No, I don't believe you!" She declared.

"You wouldn't have liked them if you read them!" He told her.

"I think it's endearing," she admitted.

"Endearing, really?" He questioned.

"Yes, of course! A primary school teacher _and _a writer. You could be this cute teacher who is great with kids by day, and a sexy, classy writer by night," she joked.

"I should become a comic book writer and create a new superhero!" He said wittingly. There was a short pause in their conversation before he decided to break the tension with a deep breath. "You never told me what you do."

"Ah, well I'm not nearly as interesting as you," she said quite truthfully. "I'm a filing clerk at HC Clements. I sometimes talk to Donna if we have nothing to do."

"Don't take anything that she says seriously!" John pleaded. He was really quite embarrassed about some of the things Donna would say.

"I can't believe she's your sister. She's so loud and sarcastic, and then here you are in your suit, drinking wine, declaring you're a writer," she checked him out.

"No, nor can I sometimes," he took another sip of his wine. "So what do you really want to do? I know no one really wants to be a filing clerk."

"I don't know …" she sighed. "Maybe travel?" She then suggested. "I've never really been anywhere outside Britain, it's always been extremely menial jobs for me."

He nodded in approval. "Yeah, travelling sounds good. See the world and that. I've always been quite interested in seeing everything, personally."

"Why haven't you?" She frowned.

"There's never the right time."

"You could come with me," she joked. There was something mischievous in her voice.

"I could never leave my class!" He said half-heartedly.

"Sure."

There was another small pause in their conversation which John used to gain his courage.

"Um, Rose … do you think I could get your number?" He asked, unsure of himself.

"Yeah," she nodded, a grin spread across her face. "Yeah, then we can arrange a date for you to travel with me."

Rose took out a pen from her purse and wrote her name on John's forearm. He smiled down at it and glanced at her. He wasn't sure if it was the wine but there was something about her he didn't quite understand. She seemed mysterious to him - a mystery he was eager to solve.

"I'll call you tomorrow," he promised her. She nodded in satisfaction.

They looked out at the crowd of people who all worked for the same company as Rose and among them was Donna. John noticed her trying to get his attention, gesturing to him to go over to her.

"Sorry, I think I have to go, its Donna …" he began.

"It's okay," she understood and smiled once more at him.

"I'll call you tomorrow evening. Maybe we can get a drink or something?" He suggested.

"Yeah, that would be nice. Because you know, I've never done that with you before," a sense of playful sarcasm lurked in her voice. He laughed and walked over to Donna.

"We need to leave," Donna told him.

"What? Why?" He asked confused and frowned at his sister.

"I'll tell you on the way home, now come on!" She grabbed his arm and forced him out the door before he got one last chance to catch a glimpse of Rose who was mesmerised in his situation.

Rose thought he was quite a charming and classy man, especially not one she thought she'd meet at a work do with people who she barely knew. She genuinely liked him. His brown gelled hair, his crooked smile, the way he'd raise his eyebrows if he was interested in something. She took another sip of her wine as she thought about the phone call that awaited her the next day.

* * *

"Donna, why did we leave so early?" John asked his sister, frustrated at the situation.

"Beth found out what I've been saying about her and I had to leave before she'd find me!" Donna admitted and her voice quivered in panic.

_Brilliant. _John thought. _If it wasn't for her then maybe I could have spoken to Rose a bit more. _He was angry with his sister, he liked Rose. In fact, he liked her a bit more than he thought was necessary. He was silent for the whole ride home whilst he listened to Donna's rambling about her work colleagues. Instead, he thought about the next evening, and how in 24 hours he would be listening to Rose's beautiful voice again.


	2. A Cup Of Coffee

John paced in his living room as he looked down at his phone. It was four in the afternoon and he was debating if he should ring Rose now or wait until the evening. He halted and fumbled with the phone in his hand for a few more minutes before deciding to bring up the contacts page and scroll to Rose's name. He paused and doubted himself once more before taking a deep breath and drew up the rest of his courage to click the call button and put the phone to his ear. He began to pace again and listened to the sound of his phone calling Rose's. The noise stopped and he opened his mouth and began to talk.

"Rose. Hi, it's John Noble."

"Hey, John," she said in a chirpy voice.

"H-how are you?" He stuttered. _Brilliant. First phone call and I'm already stuttering._

"I'm alright thanks. How are you?" She said in a reassuring tone.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good … so what are you up to?" _This conversation is going well …_

"Filing. That's about as interesting as it gets!" She laughed.

"Didyouwanttogooutforacoffee?" He asked her extremely quickly. He felt his stomach drop as his nerves weren't doing him any good.

"Sorry?"

"Did you want to go out for a coffee?" He repeated himself, much slower this time.

"Yeah that'd be great," she told him down the phone and his heart skipped a beat. "I can do two o'clock tomorrow.

"I'll pick you up from work?" He suggested and smiled to himself.

"I'll see you outside."

"Okay. I have to get back to work, these files aren't going to sort themselves out," she told him.

"That's okay. I'll see you tomorrow at two," he told her and put down his phone.

Sure he was a little disappointed that he didn't get to talk to her for longer, but he wasn't at all upset that she agreed to get a cup of coffee with him, especially as his nerves were acting up. He smiled in his pride and sat down at his computer to continue to write some more.

* * *

It was finally the day that John was going to meet Rose on his own for the first time. He woke up to the midday sun beaming through his curtains. He checked his watch, it was quarter past twelve. _Crap. _He only had an hour and a half to get ready before he would on his way to pick Rose up from her work. He got up and poured himself some of his favourite cereal – it was only right that he was starting off the day in a good mood, and after his good night's sleep, he wasn't going to deny himself that pleasure.

Once he'd finished his breakfast – although it really should have been lunch – he took a long shower, mulling over his thoughts and quickly became anxious. What if the conversations he would strike up with Rose became too boring and awkward? He decided to rid himself of the thought and play it by ear; it was enough that such a beautiful woman had agreed to go out with him anyway.

Soon enough, the time ticked ever so painfully on and John found himself in front of the mirror,his eyed lingered on his choice of outfit. He had decided to wear a pair of his more expensive jeans, some white Chuck Taylors and a casual shirt; it was only coffee after all. He drew himself away from the mirror after tweaking his hair and took his key from the counter. He fumbled with it in the lock lazily and made his way to his car where he would shortly be joined by Rose Tyler.

"Hi!" Rose eagerly called out to John as he was waiting for her against a wall outside her building.

"Hi," he gave her a smile and an awkward hug.

"Why aren't you at work?" She asked him, confused.

"It's Saturday, remember? Teachers don't work Saturdays. Plus we had arranged to meet for coffee if you didn't already realise," he looked around jokingly, making it seemingly obvious that they were heading towards his car.

He nodded as she remembered his job and laughed. "So where are we going?"

"I was thinking that little café just outside of town. Does that seem okay?"

"That seems wonderful," she gave him a toothy smile and she got in the passenger seat of his car.

It took about ten minutes to get the café, most of which Rose was telling John about the embarrassing things his sister had said to her since two nights ago.

"Yeah, she was telling me about how you used to convince your ex-girlfriends that you were insane by staying up half the night frantically working on some document."

"They weren't just any old documents, they were my stories!" He protested.

"Ah, so it's true then?" Her question hovered in the air for a few moments as he began to pull up into the car park of the café.

"Look at that we're here!" John's voice cracked in worry and Rose laughed.

He held the door open to her and told her to find them somewhere nice to sit whilst he ordered for them. She obeyed, finding a nice, comfy looking sofa next to a window. She had never been here before and it pleased her to be in somewhere completely different than work. It then clicked in her mind – she was on a date. John Noble, Donna's brother, was taking her on an hour long date over her lunch break. She wasn't complaining though, she liked him and she wouldn't have to stress about documents and files for a whole hour whilst she was with an extremely attractive man, now she began to think about it more. It made her feel a bit weird that she was with a colleague's brother on her own, but she didn't dwell on the thought for much longer because John joined her on the sofa, handing her a cup of tea. They exchanged smiles and sipped at their drinks before Rose plucked up the courage to speak.

"I thought you said you were taking me out of a _coffee?_"

Fear twinged in the back of his mind as he wondered if he already messed something up. He didn't make his thoughts apparent to Rose; instead he decided to play it out coolly.

"Coffee, tea, it's all the same," he shrugged and sipped at his tea some more.

"You've probably just upset thousands of patriotic English people as you said that, you know," she laughed, half serious.

"I think I just offended _myself. _Coffee tastes awful, it's nothing compared to a good ol' cuppa!" He raised his mug and smacked his lips together. "On second thought, why did I even invite you out for some coffee? Why didn't I say tea?"

She chuckled as his doubts and replied before he could continue his rambling. "I'm satisfied."

The look he gave her almost melted her heart. He looked into her eyes and mustered a saddened smile. Who knew two simple words could make him feel so much? She could tell it meant a lot to him, her getting coffee – tea – with him but she didn't understand why.

"What's the matter?" She cocked her head to one side and read his expression.

He shook his head. "Nothing, I just wasn't expecting that response."

Feeling slightly flirty, she settled her tea on table before her, and leaned her head into his some more. "Are you expecting this?" She raised her brow and kissed his cheek.

He was speechless; the only thing he could do was watch as Rose withdrew back into her personal space, giggling at the obvious dumbstruck expression she had left him with. Her lips were so soft against his stubbly face and it took all his self-control not to run his hand back over where she had shown him a small sign of affection.

He gulped audibly, his words hadn't quite returned to him. "N-no …" Was all he could say.

"That's good then," Rose sipped at her tea, hiding her smirk.

John was unsure about what to talk about next; he didn't really know Rose but wanted to listen to every word she had to say.

"Tell me about you," he said gently, his attention was completely fixed on her.

"There's nothing much to know," she said truthfully.

"There's got to be something, Rose," his voice had turned childlike as he dragged out the O in her name.

She shook her head. "Nope, nothing."

He sighed and laid his head back into the sofa. He had given up for now and didn't want to push Rose to telling her life story to a man who was basically a stranger to her.

"Donna's been telling me stuff about you, you know," she said, quickly changing the subject.

"Besides stories of my ex-girlfriends and how I'm apparently insane?"

"Yup," she smiled, popping the P.

He groaned. "Oh no, please don't listen to her."

"It's really quite cute things she's been saying," Rose's smirk turned into a full tongue-in-teeth smile, one that John had never seen on her before. In fact, he had never seen it on anyone whilst they were talking to _him _before.

"What's she said?" He raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Not much, just some things you used to do when you were little," she chuckled.

John's thoughts quickly flashed back over the embarrassing things that had happened to him over his childhood and only a few stuck out in his mind.

She checked her watch and sighed as he gulped down the rest of his tea.

"It's almost three, I better be heading back."

He nodded, trying not to express his sudden sadness that she was leaving him yet again. He wasn't sure why he was so upset, he had only just met Rose, they were only just forming a friendship. They both arose from their seats and John thanked the waitress for taking their empty mugs from them, walking back to the car in relative silence.

* * *

"I really can't think of anything that Donna would have told you about my childhood!" John tried to get an answer from Rose about her earlier revelation.

She laughed in response, knowing that there was a lie embedded somewhere in that sentence. Everyone has _something _they're embarrassed about from childhood.

"Just tell me what kind of things she told you."

"Nothing _that _interesting," she reassured him, her smile still there. "It was just something about a swimming pool and then something else about cheering her up."

"Oh." John frowned. He didn't recall memories to do with either of those things from childhood.

They pulled up in the car park of HC Clements and John and insisted on walking Rose in, but he mainly just to go and have a word with Donna. She smiled at him politely as they got out the car and made small talk about her work on the way to the building.

"So what does being a filing clerk involve?" He asked her.

"Are you seriously asking me that question?" She laughed at him.

"I'm intrigued," he smirked.

"Well if you _must _know," she said patronisingly, "I maintain files and documents."

"I would never have guessed!" He exclaimed sarcastically.

"Yeah, unfortunately my job seems to go unnoticed in Clements. No one actually knows my name apart from Donna; I'm just the filing girl. Everyone thinks I'm just some uneducated girl who could only get the menial jobs."

He raised his brow in surprise.

"It's probably the worst job in the world. I keep all their files save, and all I get in return is a cup of tea with no sugar!" She proclaimed.

"No!" He objected in over exaggerated shock.

"Yeah!" She grinned at him.

They had reached the entrance of HC Clements and he leaned in to give her a friendly hug as they said goodbye.

"I'll call you sometime?" He suggested nervously.

She nodded and smiled in agreement. "Sure. I'll talk to you soon." She entered the building and went straight to the direction of her duties without taking a single glance back in John's direction who was now watching her leave.

He waited outside the doors for a few more minutes, taking casual glances inside and paced up and down before deciding to enter again. He didn't head towards Rose, but rather, to Donna. She greeted him with a surprised expression.

"Why the hell are you here?!"

"Nice to see you too, Donna."

"What do you want? I'm at work!" She said quietly but fiercely through gritted teeth.

"You took me to a Christmas _work_ do, I'm pretty sure everyone knows we're related now." She glared at him and he got back on topic. "Oh right, yeah. I need to know what you said to Rose about me."

Donna held back a smirk and channelled her anger towards her brother. "Is that all you came here for?"

"No, actually. I dropped Rose back here after lunch."

"You had lunch with her?!" She looked up at him in shock. Having lunch with a woman was not something he would normally do.

"Yes, I did. Now what did you tell her?" He was eager to learn.

"Nothing interesting," she let her smirk show. She knew she was winding him up. "She just seemed so interested in you, I thought I'd let her know some things about you that you wouldn't of told her yourself.

John's eyes widened slightly when he heard that Rose was interested in him; it almost threw him off-guard. "What did she say about me?"

"She was just saying that she couldn't believe we were related … oh, and that you have 'nice hair'." Donna quoted Rose. John couldn't help but smirk at the last one.

"She told me you said something about a swimming pool …" John began but Donna had already burst into a fit of laughter. "Donna! Tell me!" He sounded almost childlike with all his pleading.

Once she had straightened herself up a bit, Donna replied. "You'll find out soon enough. Now get out my office, I need to work."

John sighed as he left his sister's office without saying goodbye. He wondered what Donna could have possibly said to Rose that made them both shake with laughter that needed to be let out. He couldn't remember anything embarrassing that had happened to him in a swimming pool when he was younger – Donna maybe, but not him. As much as he wanted to know the reason for his embarrassment, he couldn't wait to phone Rose and arrange another time to see her.


End file.
